To provide wireless services to one or more mobile devices, wireless network access points in legacy wireless networks communicate with a core network (e.g. the Internet, Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN), etc.) via a wired communication link, which is often called a “backhaul.” In most networks, these backhauls possess constant capacity that does not vary over time, unlike over-the-air communication links, whose data rate and general communication quality vary greatly over time and space, depending on path loss, fading, and interference between the access point and a given mobile device, or “user equipment” (UE), to which the access point provides wireless communication services.
Wireless communication service providers provision backhaul bandwidth capacity conservatively, such as based on the theoretical maximum amount of bandwidth required for a subscriber load. However, because network conditions rarely, if ever, reach the theoretical maximum load, available and unused backhaul bandwidth is typically available for use but may not be provisioned to potential additional service providers because the unused backhaul bandwidth is already provisioned for existing providers.
This static backhaul bandwidth provisioning effectively limits the number of access points that a backhaul provider can support, causing the backhaul provider to charge more for remaining unused bandwidth, or the wireless communication provider to install more access points to support all potential subscriber UEs.